Mascot Characters: Barbie

While considering mascot characters to research upon, as if some greater power had intended it, I happened to catch an advertisement for a documentary discussing the history and cultural impact of Barbie. As such, I decided to watch the documentary when it aired last week so that I might learn something about the marketing of toys and how this doll has managed to stay relevant for nearly 60 years.


Before Barbie came to be, there was a German doll in production, her name was Bild Lilli. Ruth Handler, the inventor of Barbie, bought this line of dolls and renamed her "Barbie" after her own daughter, Barbara. Barbie was released upon the world on March 9th, 1959 - just before the surge of second wave feminism. She was unique at the time in that she wasn't a baby like other dolls on the market, instead, she was a teenage girl. Bild Lilli, Barbie's predecessor, was a doll with an adult demographic which explains her more developed figure.

Bild Lilli (left) and the first Barbie released in 1959 (right)

She was an exceedingly popular doll, particularly with her main demographic of girls aged 3-5 years old. In 1961 a male doll, Ken, was introduced as Barbie's boyfriend. While less popular than Barbie herself, the Ken dolls also did well commercially. Each Barbie and Ken doll has a different "job", a uniform that comes with the doll set and certain accessories to cater to the occupation. To this date, Barbie has had over 180 different jobs - a lot of the jobs she was placed in in her earlier years were very stereotypical of women at the time, Mattel claims that they try to break that mould more these days but whether or not that holds true is debatable. 

At the Mattel head office in Los Angeles, there is a painting of Barbie on display that was painted by Andy Warhol - this is just the tip of the iceberg for Barbie's cultural impact. There is an annual convention for the doll's franchise, this year it was held in Houston, Texas. The event spanned 4 days and had around 800, primarily adult, attendees. There is a stigma attached to attending these kinds of conventions: Why would an adult collect and play with dolls? For many, the answer for this lies in nostalgia and one attendee even claimed that "...people, particularly gay men, are creating the childhood they weren't allowed to have." 

One of the hundreds of attendees from the Annual Barbie Convention in 2014, holding a sketch book with his written answer to the question "Why do you like Barbie?" - It isn't always the kinds of people you'd expect! 

Mattel is at the forefront of the multi-million dollar toy industry, with Lego following closely after. They have Barbie to thank for this industry dominance, she has caused a wave of popularity since her conceptualisation. Her cultural impact has been undeniably massive, for example she has been a write-in for US presidency 6 times. In 2014 she was also featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated, a popular sports magazine in America, a move which was met with much controversy. 

In 2016 Mattel released a line of Barbie dolls called 'Barbie Fashionista', these dolls aimed to bring Barbie into the current times, to make her a true reflection of today's culture. There are 3 body types, 7 skin tones, 22 eye colours and 24 hair styles across these dolls. On the topic of the Fashionista line, Kim Culmone (VP Barbie Design) stated that "It's important to be reflective of culture. If we walk around saying that Barbie has always been a sign of the times, and then we march out: all these body types are the same, all blonde, white girls... that is certainly not reflective of the times.". The Fashionista line, however, was met with a lot of controversy, particularly in regards to the 'curvy' doll shape. Despite the name, this doll too technically falls in the underweight category according to world weight standards. Mattel argues that Barbie's body was "never meant to be realistic". Barbie's body is, and has always been, conventionally attractive, an idealised image. In a small group questioning, kids claimed that despite this, Barbie's body was not something they wanted to strive for, even though she is "pretty" and they might be less inclined to play with a bigger doll. 

An advertisement for the Barbie Fashionista line of dolls

Conversely, Barbie's varied job roles have a stronger, more positive impact on children. But with this in mind, does Barbie continue to re-enforce gender stereotypes? It could be argued that the over-prominence of hot pink in her products is a negative thing, and even a lot of her jobs are still conformed to things that traditionally 'women should be doing'. However, I do feel that she is a role model for young girls despite this. Feminism has come a long way since the late 50s and I think that Barbie has evolved with the times in that respect, she is her own woman, so to speak. Ken was never as popular as Barbie which to me speaks volumes about her independence as a woman. 

Besides, gender stereotypes are always going to be present, it's a social norm. In an experiment ran by a lesbian couple, where they raised their son on gender neutral toys, he would always gravitate towards pirates and dinosaurs rather than Barbie dolls. Dolls are "girls'" toys, after all, and his friends wouldn't be playing with them so why should he? I don't think this is a negative thing at all, Mattel know who their target market is and they've been catering to it for decades.

To keep her popular in today's age, Mattel have chosen to give Barbie an online presence. She has a YouTube channel, there is a new upload every fortnight for an audience of around 2.5 million subscribers. The videos are recorded using an actor in a motion capture suit and a green screen. The channel is set up like a vlog, where Barbie will discuss everything from dealing with depression to redecorating her house. I feel that this move has been really positive for Barbie as a mascot character, it gives her so much more personality and makes her relatable. A character like Barbie, who is not animate by nature, is really aided by a format that gives her some life. With this in mind, I feel like Barbie will be a cultural icon for a long time to come. 

Without the wonders of the Barbie vlog channel, we could only imagine Barbie doing a sweet dab

References:
The Wonder Of Barbie - Wright, L. (January 2003)
The Good, the Bad, and the Barbie - Stone, T. L. (October 2010)
https://goo.gl/7jtZco - ConscienHealth (July 2013)
https://goo.gl/5Qd1kG - Dimeo-Ediger, W. (August 2014)
https://goo.gl/Z2UEZF - Diep, F (January 2016)
https://goo.gl/kdhzNy - Szmigin, I (February 2016)
Barbie: The Most Famous Doll In The World - Portas, M.(October 2017)